Wrapping machine



P 1960 E. D. SRAMEK ETAL 2,953,880

WRAPPING MACHINE Filed Sept. 2, 1958 '7 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS: ELMER D. SRAMEK 5 WALTER H. VOGEL Sept. 27, 1960 E. D. SRAMEK ETAL 2,953,880

WRAPPING MACHINE Filed Sept. 2, 1958 7 Sheets-Sheet 2' ill INVENTORS'. ELMER D. SRAMEK WALTER H. VOGEL BY I ww m'r Sept. 27, 1960. E. D. SRAMEK EI'AL 2,953,830

7 WRAPPING MACHINE Filed Sept. 2, 1958 'r Sheets-Shet a ELMER 0. SRAMEK WALTER H. VOGEL ATT'YS Sept. 27, 1960 4 E. nsRA'MEK ETAL 2,953,880

WRAPPING MACHINE Filed Sept. 2, 1958 7 Sheets-Sheet 4 FIG? : INVENTORS: ELMER D. SRAMEK WALTERVH. VOGEL Sept. 27, 1960 E. D. SRAMEK ET AL 2,953,880

WRAPPING MACHINE Filed Sept. 2, 1958 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTORS: ELMER D. SRAMEK WALTER H. VOGEL P 1960 E. D. SRAMEK ETAL 2,953,880

WRAPPING MACHINE Filed Sept. 2, 195a 7 Sheets-Sheet 6 ELMER DSRAMEK WALTER H. VOGEL WMW ATT'YS I P 1960 E. D. SRAMEK ETAL 2,953,880

WRAPPING MACHINE 7 Sheets-Sheet 7 Filed Sept. 2, 1958 FIG.

Patented Sept. 27, 1960' WRAPPING MACHINE Elmer D. Sramek, Cicero, and Walter H. Vogel, Barrington, Ill., assignors to F. B. Redington Co., Bellwood, 111., a corporation of Delaware Filed Sept. 2, 1958, Ser. No. 758,449

Claims. (CI. 53-73) This invention generally relates to a wrapping machine wherein articles are carried by a conveyor to a sheetreceiving and wrapping station, and more particularly to a means for detecting the absence of articles on the conveyor and stopping the feeding of a wrapping sheet to the sheet-receiving and wrapping station.

The present invention is adapted to be generally used in connection with a wrapping machine, such as a candy wrapping machine or the like, although other uses and purposes will be apparent to one skilled in the art. In a wrapping machine of the type with which the present invention may be employed, a conveyor may be provided having a plurality of buckets therealong for receiving articles or groups of candies. The conveyor serves to advance the candies intermittently or continuously to a sheet-receiving and wrapping station. At this station a sheet of wrapping material Will be delivered at the time a pocket from the conveyor is aligned therewith, wherein a pusher member transfers the article from the pocket against the sheet of wrapping material and into an adjacent conveyor which may take the partially wrapped article to other stations for performing other operations. Any type of wrapping material may be used including cellophane, foil, or a product known as Rayseal. Rayseal comprises a sheet of foil laminated to a sheet of tissue paper or the like.

The wrapping material will be initially provided in web form by the roll, and the present invention will measure, cut and feed the Web and sheets of wrapping material to the sheet-receiving station. Since it is undesirable that a sheet be fed to the sheet-receiving station if an article pocket or bucket is empty and no article will be transferred from the empty bucket when it aligns with the sheet-receiving station, means is provided for detecting the absence of articles in the bucket of the conveyor and for stopping the measuring, cutting and feeding means. It will be appreciated that continual feeding of sheets to the sheet-receiving station and non-use of these sheets will eventually cause jamming of the wrapping machine, shutdown and loss of use. Further, a saving in wrapping material can be effected if each sheet out can be used to wrap an article. The means for detectingand stopping the measuring, cutting and feeding means in-' cludes detecting mechanism for detecting the absence of articles in the buckets and control means associated with the driving means of the measuring, cutting and feeding means.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved wrapping machine for wrapping articles, such as candies.

Another object of this invention resides in the 'provision of a mechanism associated with a wrapping machine which will aiford more efficient and better operation of the wrapping machine thereby reducing shutdowns and loss of time and use.

Still another object of this invention is in the provision of a mechanism adapted to be associated with a wrapping machine capable of measuring, cutting and feeding sheets from a web to a sheet-receiving station for wrapping of the articles.

A further object of this invention is to provide a mechanism for detecting the absence of articles in buckets on a conveyor for signaling a device controlling the feeding of wrapping sheets to a sheet-receiving station.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a wrapping machine including a conveyor having a plurality of buckets thereon for receiving articles and advancing the articles to a sheet-receiving station, and means for measuring, cutting and feeding wrapping sheets to the sheet-receiving station in alignment with the buckets upon detection of articles in the buckets on the conveyor.

A still further object of this invention resides in the provision of a wrapping machine including a conveyor having a plurality of buckets thereon for carrying articles to a sheet-receiving station and aligning the articles therewith, means capable of measuring, cutting and feeding a sheet of material from a continuous web to the sheet-receiving station, means for driving the measuring, cutting and feeding means, and means detecting the absence of articles in the buckets on the conveyor and feeding a signal to the driving means in order to stop the measuring, cutting and feeding means upon the detection of the absence of an article in a bucket on the conveyor.

Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed disclosure, taken in conjunction with the accompanying sheets of drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like parts, in which:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a wrapping machine embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the measuring, cutting and spacing rollers removed from the machine for purposes of illustration;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary front elevational view of the wrapping machine embodying the invention, illustrating the gear train drive of the various rolls, the transfer arrangement for transferring the articles from the first conveyor to a second conveyor, and the detector arrangement;

Fig. 4. is a greatly enlarged perspective view of the detector arm arrangement for detecting the absence of articles on the conveyor;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary and greatly enlarged perspective view of a detail of the detector arm 'arrangment;

Fig. 6 is a transverse sectional view, taken substantially along lines 6-6 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a more or less diagrammatic view of the various driving and operating components of the present invention;

Fig. 8 is a greatly enlarged sectional view taken transversely through the machine and illustrating the oneway pin drive for delivering power selectively to the measuring, cutting and feeding means of the invention;

Fig. 9 is an enlarged view, taken substantially along line 99 of Fig. 8;

Fig. 10 is an enlarged diagrammatic view of the differential gearing arrangement used in the present invention; and

Fig. 11 is a diagrammatic view of a power gear train similar to Fig. 7 but embodying a modification of the invention.

The present invention is herein illustrated in connection with a wrapping machine of the usual type whichincludes a conveyor 12, Fig. 1, having a plurality of article-carrying buckets 13 mounted on a pair of parallel extending chains 14. Inasmuch as the buckets 13 on the conveyor do not comprise any part of the invention, they are shown more or less diagrammatically, but it will be understood that each'of these bucketsmay be constructed in order to receive a stack of hard candies or an article and resiliently hold the stack of candies or article during the travel along the conveyor. A mechanism for counting and feeding the stack of candies or articles to the buckets (not shown) may be provided for initially inserting the candies or articles into the buckets. The articles are conveyed along a path shown by the dotted line in Fig. 3 which is initially straight and then becomes arcuate as the buckets travel around end sprockets 16, Figs. 3 and 7, to the sheet-receiving station 17, Fig. 3.

Although the conveyor 12 may be continuously driven, it is driven intermittently in the present case. In order to provide the intermittent driving, the sprockets 16 are mounted on a drive shaft 18, Fig. 7, having a Geneva wheel 19 secured thereto. A Geneva drive pin 20, which is secured to a gear 21 mounted on an idler shaft 22, engages the slots of the Geneva Wheel 19 to drive the Geneva wheel and shaft 18 and the conveyor 12 in a stepby-step manner. The Geneva pin 20 and its associated gear 21 mesh with a gear 23 mounted on a main drive shaft 24. A gear 25 on the main drive shaft engages a shaft mounted gear 26 which in turn engages a gear 27 mounted on a shaft 28. inasmuch as the gears 23, 25, 26 and 27 are of the same size having the same number of teeth, the shaft 24 will rotate one revolution for one revolution of the shaft 28. It may be considered that the shaft 28 is also the main drive shaft, although for purposes of setting forth the invention and the parts, the shaft 24 will be considered the main drive shaft. The shaft 28 has a pulley 29 mounted thereon in driving engagement with a pulley 30 of an electric motor 31 by means of a belt or transmission member 32. Thus, drive for the conveyor 12 is generated by the motor 31.

Sheets of Wrapping material are measured, cut and fed to the sheet-receiving station 17 in timed relation with the driving of the conveyor 12 by means of the measuring, cutting and feeding mechanism, generally indicated by the numeral 33, Fig. 3. This mechanism is mounted on an upstanding mounting plate 34, Figs. 1 and 3.

The sheets are cut from a continuous web 35 of Wrapping material which is taken from a roll 36 of wrapping material mounted rotatably on a shaft 37 secured to the mounting plate 34, Fig. l. The web is first guided over an upper guide idler roller 38 of a Web tensioning device 39, downwardly over a dancer roller 40 and upwardly around a second idler roller 41. The dancer roller 40 is provided with a shaft 42 which is received in slots 43 of spaced members 44, whereby the dancer roller 40 may travel up and down the spaced members 44 in order to maintain the proper tension in the web 35.

From the last idler roller 41 of the tensioning device 39, the web 35 travels downwardly and around the under side of a guide roller 45, then upwardly and over the top of a measuring roller 46 which measures the amount of material to be cut for each sheet. A pressure roller 47 urges the web against the roller 46 and aids in driving the web directly downwardly into a pair of coacting cutter rollers 48 having knives 49 mounted on the periphery thereof, Figs. 2 and 3. The cutter rollers 48 cut the web into sheets of a predetermined size depending upon the size of the measuring roller 46 and deliver the sheet down wardly into a pair of coacting spacer rollers 50. The spacer rollers 50 are operated to space one sheet from the next succeeding sheet and finally deliver the cut sheet to the sheet-receiving station 17.

The spacer rollers 50 are variable speed driven rollers arranged directly beneath the cutter rollers and initially grab the cut sheet of paper and advance it at the same speed as the other rollers, then speed up the paper advanced to space the cut sheets and deliver the paper to the wrapping station well ahead of the next succeeding sheet. These spacer rollers are continually driven by a slider crank arrangement 51, Fig. 7, which is connected to the main drive shaft 24 by means of a gear 52 and other mechanical connections not shown. The Slid crank arrangement merely provides a variable speed drive for these rollers. The connection between the main drive and the slider crank arrangement 51 is such that the spacer rollers 50 will rotate through one revolution with one revolution of the main drive shaft 24. The spacer rollers are driven in opposite directions as indicated by the arrows shown in Fig. 3 from the slider crank arrangement 51 and at the same speed by means of the coacting and meshing gears 50a, Fig. 7. These spacing rollers are supported on the mounting plate 34 by means of a. supporting bracket assembly 50b as seen generally in Fig. 3.

The threading of the web of material 35 is such that the first guide roller 45 merely brings the Web downwardly so that a greater driving surface on the measuring roller 46 is contacted by the web. It will be understood that the amount of material measured and cut may be changed by changing the diametrical size of the measuring roller 46. The guide roller 45 is mounted on a shaft 53 having one end bearingly supported inthe mounting plate 34 and the other end bearingly supported in a boss 54 of a hanger plate 55 which is secured to the plate 34 in cantilever fashion by a cross member 56, as seen in Fig. l.

The measuring roller 46, the pressure roller 47, and the cutter rollers 48 are mounted respectively on shafts 57, 58 and 59, Fig. 3, which are supported at one end by the mounting plate 34 and at the other end by an end plate 60 cantileverly supported from the mounting plate 34 by transversely extending members such as the member 61, Fig. l. The guide roller 45, the measuring roller 46, the pressure roller 47, and the cutter rollers 48 are driven together by a gear power train including a gear 62 mounted on the shaft 53 of the guide roller 45 which meshes with a gear 63 mounted on the shaft 57 of the measuring roller 46, Fig. 3. The gear 63 in turn meshes with a gear 64 mounted on the shaft 58 of the pressure roller 47. Power is transmitted to the cutter rollers 48 by means of an idler gear 65 which meshes with a gear 66 of one of the cutter rollers which in turn meshes with a gear 67 of the other cutter roller. The gears 66 and 67 are of the same size thereby driving the cutter rollers at the same speed. Thus, power delivered to one of the shafts of these rollers effectively drives all of the shafts.

The pressure roller 47 is bearingly supported between a pair of hanger bars 68 and 69, Fig. 1, which are carried pivotally at their upper ends on a rod 70. A spring 71 is arranged between an abutment on the hanger bar 69 and a stationary abutment member 72 thereby providing resilient pressure for the pressure roller and forcing it resiliently against the measuring roller 46.

Power is selectively transmitted to the measuring, cutting and feeding mechanism 33 by the driving mechanism, generally designated by the numeral 73 in Fig. 7, which is controlled by the detecting mechanism, generally indicated by the numeral 74 in Fig. l, which detects the presence or absence of articles in the buckets 13 of the conveyor 12.

The driving mechanism 73 selectively connects the main drive shaft 24 to the measuring, cutting and feeding mechanism 33 depending upon the presence or absence of articles in the pockets of the conveyor 12, and is controlled by the detecting mechanism 74. Referring particularly to Figs. 7, 8 and 9, the driving mechanism 73 which drives the measuring, feeding and cutting mechanism of the machine includes a driven shaft 75 connected to one of the cutter roller shafts 48. The end of the driven shaft 75 opposite the cutter roller shaft is flanged or fiatted at 76 to retain a collar 77 thereon, the collar being keyed or splined to the shaft 75 for corotation therewith but being capable of sliding therealong. The collar includes spaced radial flanges 78 and 79 defining therebetween an annular channel 80, the use of which will be more clearly explained hereinafter.

The slidable collar 77 comprises one component of a one-way pin drive and has extending from the outer face of the radial flange 78 a pin 81 engageable in a slotted socket 82 provided in the hub portion 83 of a bevel gear 84. The bevel gear 84 comprises the other component of the one-way pin drive coupling.

The bevel gear 84 also serves as a component in a differential gearing arrangement, generally designated by the numeral 85, which also includes an intermediate bevel gear 86 and an input bevel gear 87. The bevel gear 84 may be considered as an output gear from the differential gearing arrangement. Both the bevel gears 84 and 87 are freely rotatable on the shaft 75 but not axially movable therealong. Thus, the differential gearing arrangement includes an input gear 87, an output gear 84, and an intermediate gear 85 meshing with the input and output gears. The hub 88 of the input bevel gear 87 is connected to a continually driven gear 89 which engages an idler gear 90, Figs. 7 and 8, that is in turn in mesh with the gear 52. The gear 52 is connected to the main shaft 24 and therefore the input to the differential gearing arrangement 85 comes directly from the main shaft 24. The gears in the gear train from the main drive shaft to the input bevel gear 87 are such that one revolution of the main drive shaft 24 effects one revolution of the input bevel gear 87 and, consequently, one revolution of the output bevel gear 84. Accordingly, the output gear 84 drives the collar 77 when connected thereto and the driven shaft 75 one revolution for each revolution of the main drive shaft 24. Similarly, the cutter roller shaft 48 will be rotated one revolution for each revolution of the main drive shaft 24 when the one-way pin drive is engaged.

Sliding of the collar 77 along the shaft 75 to effect engagement and disengagement of the one-way pin drive is accomplished by a cam wheel 91 mounted on the shaft 28. The shaft 28 rotates at the same speed as the main shaft 24. This cam wheel 91 is provided with a cam track 92 which receives a cam follower 93 mounted on a rocking lever 94 at an intermediate point therealong. The lever 94 is pivotally mounted on a shaft 95 at one end and pivotally engages the lower end of an oscillating rod 96 at the other end, Fig. 7. The cam track 92 in the cam wheel 91 is arranged to reciprocate or oscillate the rod 96 back and forth for one time during each revolution of the shaft 28.

The upper end of the rod 96 is pivotally connected to the outer end of an arm 97 of a crank 98 which is pivotally mounted on a shaft 99. This crank includes a second arm 100 angularly related to the first arm 97 which has mounted at its outer end a detent 101. The detent is selectively engageable with a notch 102 formed in a latching arm 103. The latching arm 103 is pivotally mounted at an intermediate point at 104 to an upstanding actuating lever 105. The latching arm 103 and the detent 101 comprise latching mechanism for connecting the actuating lever 105 to the crank 98. The latching arm 103 is normally disengaged from the detent 101 and held in disengaged position by means of a spring 106 connected to the outer end of the latching arm at one end and to a stationary portion of the machine at the other end, Fig. 7. The actuating lever 105 is pivotally mounted at its lower end to the shaft 99, Fig. 7, and has a pin 107 extending from its upper end into the annular channel 80 of the collar 77, Fig. 7.

The upstanding actuating lever 105 has a spring 108 connected thereto and to a stationary part of the machine for resiliently urging the lever to maintain the collar 77 against the hub portion 83 of the output bevel gear 84, thereby maintaining the one-way pin drive engaged so that normally the measuring, cutting and feeding mechanism will be continually operating.

When the pockets on the conveyor 12 are continuously full, the one-way pin drive will remain in constant engagement thereby continually operating the measuring, cutting and feeding means in order to continually feed a cut sheet of wrapping paper to the sheet-receiving station in alignment with each pocket as it aligns therewith. Upon the detection of an empty pocket or bucket on the conin a latching arm 126. The latching arm 126- is connected veyor 12 by the detecting mechanism '74, the circuit is closed to actuate a normally deenergized solenoid 109, Figs. 7, 8 and 9. The solenoid 109 includes a plunger 110 pivotally connected to a link 111 which, in turn, is pivotally connected to an end of the latching arm 103. Thus, energization of the solenoid 109 pulls down the plunger 110 and the link 111 and rocks the latching arm 103 about its pivot 104 to permit engagement between the notch 102 and the detent 101. This effectively connects the upstanding actuating lever 7105 with the crank 98 and the cam operated rocking lever 104. When the cam follower 93 reaches the working part of the cam track 92, the actuating lever 105 will be rocked in a clockwise direction as seen in Fig. 8 to slide the collar 77 along the shaft and disengage the pin 81 from the socket 82 of the output gear 84, thereby disengaging the drive to the measuring, cutting and feeding means of the machine. This will prevent the measuring and cutting of a sheet of wrapping material and the feeding of that sheet of wrapping material to the sheet receiving station when the empty bucket or pocket of the conveyor aligns with the sheet-receiving station. Accordingly, wasting of the wrapping paper and the possible jamming of the machine will be eliminated. The solenoid 109 will be mounted on a stationary part of the machine.

Smooth engagement and disengagement between the pin 81 of the collar 77 and the socket 82 of the output bevel gear 84 of the differential gearing arrangement is provided by operation of the differential gearing arrangement which serves to stop rotation of the bevel gear 84 at the instant that the collar 77 would be engaged therewith or disengaged therefrom. Although the differential gearing arrangement is mechanically the best, simplest and most economical type of device that may be used to stop the rotation of the continually driven member of the coupling, it will be appreciated that other mechanisms may be employed such as a planetary gearing arrangement, a barrel cam arrangement, or a three-point internal Geneva arrangement. Hence, any type of device that is capable of stopping the outer rollers and feed and the drive for the cutter rollers and feed arrangement may be used to permit smooth connecting and disconnecting of the one-way pin drive assembly.

Referring more particularly to the differential gearing arrangement 85, the intermediate bevel gear 86 is rotatably mounted on the transversely extending shaft 112 that extends from a rocking block 113 rotatably carried on the driven shaft 75. Extending from the rocking block 113 and the side opposite the shaft 112 is a bar 114 that is pivotally connected to one end of a generally downwardly extending link 115. The bar 114 is in axial alignment with the shaft 112. The lower end of the link 115 is pivotally connected to one end of a rockable lever 116 that has its other end pivotally connected to a shaft 117. A latching mechanism permits selective connection of the link 115 and the lever 116 to a cam oscillated bar 118. The lower end of the bar 118 is pivotally connected to the outer end of a rocking lever 119 having its other end pivotally mounted on the shaft 95. A cam follower 120 is mounted intermediate the ends of the rocking lever 119 and in engagement with a cam track 121 of a cam wheel 122 keyed to the shaft 28. Thus, the cam wheel 122 rotates with the shaft 28 as does the cam wheel 91 rotate therewith. The working part of the cam track 121 effects an oscillation of the cam oscillated bar 118.

The latching mechanism includes a continuously rocking lever 123 freely pivotal on the shaft 117 at one end and pivotally connected at its free end to the upper end of the oscillating bar 118. The rocking lever 123 includes a pin or detent 124 engageable with a notch 125 formed at its upper end to one end of a lever 127 by means of a pin 128 pivotally journalled intermediately of the rockable lever 116, whereby actuation of the lever 127 actuates the latching arm 126. .The free end of the lever 127 is pivotally connected to a link 129 which is in turn pivotally connected to a plunger 130 of a solenoid 131. When the pockets on the conveyor 12 are full, the solenoid 131 will remain deenergized and the latchingarm 126 will be disengaged from the pin 124 and biased to a disengaging position by means of a spring 132. The spring 132 is connected at one end to the latching arm 126 and at the other end to a stationary part on the machine in order to normally urge the latching'arm 126 away from the pin 124, as seen in Fig. 7. Accordingly, during normal operation of the machine when the pockets are full, the shaft 112 carrying the intermediate bevel gear 85 will take the position as seen in Fig. 7, into which position it is urged by means of a spring 133 connected at one end to the bar 114 and at the other end to a stationary part of the machine. Thus, although the cam wheel 122 continuously reciprocates the bar 118 and the lever 123, the differential gearing arrangement will not be operated as long as the buckets on the conveyor remain full. Should a bucket be detected empty by the detecting mechanism 74, the solenoid 131 will be energized to move the latching arm 126 into engagement with the pin 124 on the rocking lever 123 and cause downward movement of the link 115 and movement of the intermediate gear 86 in a clockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 9 in order to stop rotation of the measuring, cutting and feeding means at the one-way pin drive to permit smooth disengagement of the one-way pin drive.

Referring to Fig. 10, the operation of the diiferential gearing arrangement 85 is illustrated somewhat diagrammatically and therefore not in proper proportion. The gears 84 and 87 in this figure are shown in flat layout. All of the gears 84, 86 and 87 have the same number of teeth and are of the same size. If the input gear 87 is rotated 90 such as illustrated by the arrow 134 in one direction as indicated by the arrow 135, and the intermediate gear 86 is held stationary, the output gear 84 will rotate in an opposite direction as indicated by the arrow 136 an equal amount or 90 as indicated by the line 137. However, it is desirable to stop the output gear 84 during operation of the machine and permit smooth engagement or disengagement of the one-way pin drive coupling. This is accomplished by advancing the shaft 112 upon which the intermediate gear 86 is rotatably mounted 45 in the same direction as rotation of the input gear 87 when the input gear is rotated through a 90 arc, thereby causing the output gear 84 to stop or stand still. Thus, when the shaft 112 moves one-half of the input gear motion in the same direction as the input gear, the output gear will stop. Similarly, when the shaft 112 with intermediate gear thereon moves 45 in the opposite direction of rotation of the input gear 87 when the input gear moves through 90", the output gear 84 will be driven in the opposite direction through 180. Therefore, even though the intermediate gear shaft 112 is pivoted back and forth during one revolution of the input gear 87, the output gear 84 will also move through one revolution.

Referring now particularly to Figs. 1, 3, 4, and 6, the detecting mechanism 74 which detects the articles A moving along the dotted line 15, Fig. 3, includes generally detecting arms 138, 139 and 140 which control the operation of normally closed microswitches 141 and 142. The arcuate range of article engagement for the detector arms is illustrated in Fig. 3 by the radii lines and associated arrowed lines 138a, 139a, and 140a for the respective detector arms. The detecting arms 138 and 139 together control the operation of the microswitch 141, while the detector arm 140 controls the operation of the microswitch 142. The microswitch 141 is electrically connected in series with the differential solenoid 131, while the microswitch 142 is electrically connected in series with the one-way pin drive solenoid 109.

Each of the detecting arms is in the form of elongated thin bars having a downwardly bent article engaging portion at their free ends. The detector arms 138 and 139 are connected at their other ends to upstanding bars 143 and 144, respectively, which are pivoted on a transversely extending rod 145 supported at its inner end on the mounting plate 34 and at its outer end by a bracket 146, Figs. 1 and 4, extending outwardly from the mounting plate 34. In order to allow certain adjustabili-ty be tween the bars 143 and 144 and the respective detecting arms 138 and 139, the detecting arms are provided with slots 147 and 148, respectively, which receive bolts extending therethrough and engaging the bars. For example, .the detecting arm 138, Fig. 6, has a stud 149 extending through its slot and into the bar 143. Accordingly, by loosening the studs the detecting arms may be adjusted relatively thereto, in order to accommodate various sizes of articles or the like.

The bars 143 and 144 are resiliently biased in a clockwise direction as seen in Figs. 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6, thereby also resiliently biasing in a clockwise direction the detector arms 138 and 139 against the articles in the pockets of the conveyor 12. This resiliently biasing action accomplished by springs 150 and 151 bottoming on one end against the bars 143 and 144, respectively, and on the other end against an abutment plate 152 which is mounted on a stationary part of the machine frame. In order to maintain the positions of the springs, stud bolts 153 and 154 are secured to the abutment plate 152 and extend through the center of the springs 150 and 151, the outer ends thereof being freely received in apertures or sockets formed in the bars 143 and 144. At the upper end of the bars 143 and 144, adjustable pins 155 and 156, respectively, extend through the bars and protrude away therefrom in the direction of the detector arms. Each of the pins threadedly engages a threaded bore in the respective bar and extends perpendicular to the crossrod 145. The forward ends of the pins engage a striker plate 157, secured intermediate an upstanding switch actuating lever 158. The switch lever 158 is pivotally mounted at its lower end to the rod 145 and adjustably'carries at its upper end a flatheaded bolt 159 which engages the plunger of the differential operating microswit-h 141. The switch actuating lever 158 is normally biased in a counterclockwise direction by the spring 160 connected at one end to a pin 161 on the lever 158 and at the other end to a pin 162 mounted on a stationary part of the frame 163. Thus, the lever is biased so that the striker plate 157 continually engages the pins 155 and 156 of the bars 143 and 144, and the flat headed bolt 159 continually engages the plunger of the microswith 141. When the buckets are full and the detector arms 138 and 139 are in their up position thereby slightly compressing the springs 150 and 151 and permitting the spring 168 to pull the switch actuating lever 158 counterclockwise until stopped by engagement of the striker plate with the pin pins 155 and 156, the flatheaded bolt 159 at the upper end of the lever will then actuate the microswitch 141 and open the line to the solenoid 131 thereby disconnecting the linkage between the bar 114 of the intermediate gear 86 and the cam wheel 122, whereby the cutting rollers and feeding mechanism is not stopped once each revolution and therefore continued operation of the cutters and associated mechanism is maintained. However, should an empty pocket of the conveyor be detected by the detect-ing arms 138 and 139, the springs 150 and 151 which are stronger than the spring 166 will cause clockwise movement of the switch actuating arm 158 permitting the microswitch 141 .to close and actuate the differential solenoid 131.

As noted particularly in Fig. 3, an empty bucket ad-.

associated spring 150 and will overcome the force of 9. the spring 169 which normally biases the actuating lever 153 in a counterclockwise direction. As the empty bucket moves about the sprocket 16 of the conveyor, the second detecting am 139 will then detect the empty bucket and continue to hold the switch actuating lever in a position to allow the closing of the microswitch 141. Accordingly, both detector arms 138 and 139 must be in their up position, that is, they both must be detecting full buckets before the switch actuating lever 158 can be pivoted counterclockwise to operate the microswitch 141 and open the line leading to the solenoid 13-1.

The third detector arm 140* is also adjustably secured to a switch actuating lever 164 and at the lower end thereof. This switch actuating lever is pivotally mounted on the rod 145 at its lower .end and has a flatheaded adjustable bolt (not shown) secured to its upper end and engaging the plunger of the normally closed microswitch 142. The detecting arm 1% therefore acts together with the lever 164 as a unit for operating and controlling the mioroswitch 142. Also, the detector arm and lever are mounted and balanced in such a way that normally the detector arm will be gravity actuated downwardly against the conveyor pockets, and raised to open the normally closed microswitch 142 when the pockets are full, or when it detects a full pocket. Upon the detection of an empty pocket, the line to the one-way pin dn've solenoid 109 will be closed by permitting the switch 142 to operate, which will cause the one-way pin drive to be disengaged thereby stopping the measuring, cutting and feeding means for a cycle and ultimately skip feeding of a sheet of wrapping material to the sheet-receiving station. The detector arm 140 detects an ampty bucket subsequent to detection of an empty bucket by the first detector arm 13% and is timed to permit the closing of the microswith 142 for energizing the one-way pin drive solenoid 1M and stopping the paper feed and cutters so that there will not be a .cut sheet of wrapping material delivered to the sheet-receiving station when the empty bucket aligns therewith.

A modification of the invention is shown in Fig. 11, which differs from the embodiment already disclosed only in that the latching mechanism between the cam wheel 121 and the lever 114- of the differential gearing arrangement, the detector arms 138 and 139 and associated mechanism, have been eliminated or omitted. In place of the latching mechanism, a single lever 165 has been substituted which connects directly to the rocking lever 119 at its lower end and to the bar 114 of the intermediate gear 86 at its upper end, whereby during each revolution of the main shaft, the measuring, cutting and feeding mechanism will be stopped by the differential mechanism whether or not the one-way pin drive is engaged or disengaged at this time.

However, with the three detector arm arrangement disclosed in Fig. 7, the measuring, cutting and feeding mechanism 33 will operate continuously when the buckets are full thereby providing an overall smoother operation. Continuous operation will naturally eliminate wear on certain parts.

In the operation of the present invention, the measuring, cutting and feeding means successively feeds sheets of wrapping material to the sheet-receiving station 17. When a bucket with an article therein, such as a stack of candies, aligns with the sheet-receiving station, transfer means ejects an article A from a pocket on the conveyor 12, applies a sheet of wrapping paper thereto, and transfers the article to a bucket on a pocketed wheel 166, Fig. 3. Thus, the article is partially Wrapped at the sheet-receiving station and other operations are performed on the article in subsequent parts of the machine.

Since it is undesirable to feed a sheet of wrapping material to the sheet-receiving station if no article is in a particular bucket on the conveyor 12 which aligns with the station, because this would increase the possibility of jamming the machine and waste sheets of wrapping material, a detecting means is provided in association with the conveyor 12 for controlling the drive means for the measuring, cutting and feeding means. Should an empty bucket be detected by the first detecting arm 138, the differential solenoid 131 will be energized to then cause the cam wheel 122 to rock the shaft 112 of the intermediate gear 86 of the differential gearing arrangement during each revolution of the main drive shaft and thereby stop the measuring, cutting and feeding means, as well as the one-way pin drive between the output gear of the differential gearing arrangement and the driven shaft 75 which feeds power to the measuring, cutting and feeding means. Stopping of the driven shaft 75 and its driven members permits subsequent engagement or disengagement of the one-way pin drive when the detecting arm 140 subsequently detects the empty pocket on the conveyor. Detection by the arm 1% causes energization of the one-way pin drive solenoid 109 to operate the latching mechanism and connect the cam Wheel 91 to the rocking lever so that at the working part of the cam track 92, disengagement of the one-way pin drive will be effected thereby disengaging the drive to the measuring, cutting and feeding means. This results in skipping the feeding of the sheet to the sheet-receiving station when the empty bucket aligns therewith thereby saving the wrapping material and avoiding the possibility of jamming the machine.

It will be understood that modifications and variations may be effected without departing from the scope of the novel concepts of the present invention, but it is understood that this application is to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

The invention is hereby claimed as follows:

' 1. In a machine for wrapping articles, a common drive means, an endless conveyor having a plurality of spaced article-carrying pockets, a wrapping sheet-receiving station adjacent said conveyor, means connected to said common drive means for driving said conveyer and aligning successive pockets successively with said sheet-receiving station, means drivingly connected to said common drive means for successively measuring and cutting a web of wrapping material into sheets and successively feeding the sheets to the sheet-receiving station, a normally engaged one way pin drive between said common drive means and said measuring, cutting and feeding means, said one way pin drive having a pin member and a socketed member wherein one of said members is connected to said common drive means and the other member is connected to said measuring, cutting and feeding means, and one of said members being movable into and out of engagement with said other member, a cam operated lever oscillated by said common drive means, a normally disengaged latching mechanism between said lever and said movable member of said one way pin drive for selectively connecting said cam operated lever to said movable member to disengage same from said other member of said one way pin drive, a solenoid having its plunger connected to said latching mechanism, a detector arm above said conveyer detecting absence of articles in the conveyer pockets, a switch operable by said detector arm and con trolling the operation of said solenoid, whereby the detection of an empty pocket by said detector arm operates said switch to operate the solenoid and disengage said one way pin drive thereby rendering said measuring, cutting and feeding means inactive to feed a sheet to the sheet-receiving station when the detected empty pocket aligns with said receiving station.

2. In a machine for wrapping articles, a common drive means, an endless conveyer having a plurality of spaced article-carrying pockets, a wrapping sheet-receiving station adjacent said conveyer, means connected to said common drive means for driving said conveyer and aligning successive pockets successively with said sheet-receiving station, means drivingly connected to said common drive means for successively measuring and cutting a web of 11 wrapping material into sheets and successively feeding the sheets to the sheet-receiving station, a normally en gaged one way pin drive between said common drive means and said measuring, cutting and feeding means, said one way pin drive having a pin member and a socketed member wherein one of said members is connected to said common drive means and the other member is connected to said measuring, cutting and feeding means and one of said members being movable into and out of engagement with said other member, differential gearing means for stopping said members of the one way pin drive when engaging or disengaging said members to permit smooth engagement and disengagement thereof, and means responsive to the de' tection of the absence of an article in a conveyer pocket for disengaging said one way pin drive thereby rendering said measuring, cutting and feeding means inactive to feed a sheet to the sheet-receiving station when the detected empty pocket aligns with said receiving station.

3. In a machine for wrapping articles, a common drive means, an endless conveyer having a plurality of spaced article-carrying pockets, a wrapping sheet-receiving station adjacent said conveyer, means connected to said common drive means for driving said conveyer and aligning successive pockets successively with said sheetreceiving station, means drivingly connected to said common drive means for successively measuring and cutting a web of wrapping material into sheets and successively feeding the sheets to the sheet-receiving station, a normally engaged one way pin drive between said common drive means and said measuring, cutting and feeding means, said one way pin drive having a pin member and a socketed member wherein one of said members is connected to said common drive means and the other member is connected to said measuring, cutting and feeding means and one of said members being movable into and out of engagement with said other member, differential gearing means for stopping said members of the one way pin drive when engaging or disengaging said members to permit smooth engagement and disengagement thereof, means operable by the detection of absence of articles in conveyer pockets for controlling said stopping means, and means responsive to the detection of the absence of an article in a conveyer pocket for disengaging said one way pin drive thereby rendering said measuring, cutting and feeding means in active to feed a sheet to the sheet-receiving station when the-detected empty pocket aligns with said receiving station.

4. In a machine for Wrapping articles, a common drive means, an endless conveyer having a plurality of spaced article-carrying pockets, a wrapping sheet-receiving station adjacent said conveyer, means connected to said common drive means for driving said conveyer and aligning successive pockets successively with said sheet receiving station, means drivingly connected to said common drive means for successively measuring and cutting a web of wrapping material into sheets and successively feeding the sheets to the sheet-receiving station, a normally engaged one way pin drive between said common drive means and said measuring, cutting and feeding means, said one way pin drive having a pin member and a socketed member wherein one of said members is connected to said common drive means and the other member is connected to said measuring, cutting and feeding means and one of said members being movable into and out of engagement with said other member, means for stopping said members of the one way pin drive when engaging or disengaging said members to permit smooth engagement and disengagement thereof, said stopping means comprising a differential gearing assembly between said one way pin drive and said common drive means comprising an input gear connected to said common drive means, an output gear axially aligned with said input gear and connected to one of said members of said one way pin drive, and a differential gear mounted on a shaft extending perpendicular to the axes of said input and output gears and meshing therewith, and means for selectively pivoting said shaft about the axes of said input and output gears, whereby movement of said differential gear in the direction of rotation of said input gear by one half of the input gear rotation stops the output gear, and means responsive to the detection of the absence of an article in a conveyer pocket for disengaging said one way pin drive when said output gear is stopped thereby rendering said measuring, cutting and feeding means inactive to feed a sheet to the sheet-receiving station when the detected empty pocket aligns with said receiving station.

5. In a machine for wrapping articles, a common drive means, an endless conveyer having a plurality of spaced article-carrying pockets, a wrapping sheet-receiving station adjacent said conveyer, means connected to said common drive means for driving said conveyer and aligning successive pockets successively with said sheetreceiving station, means drivingly connected to said common drive means for successively measuring and cutting a web of wrapping material into sheets and successively feeding the sheets to the sheet-receiving station, a normally engaged one way pin drive between said common drive means and said measuring, cutting and feeding means, said one way pin drive having a pin member and a socketed member wherein one of said members is connected to said common drive means and the other member is connected to said measuring, cutting and feeding means and one of said members being movable into and out of engagement with said other member, means for stopping said members of the one way pin drive when engaging or disengaging said members to permit smooth engagement and disengagement thereof, said stopping means comprising a difierential gearing assembly between said one way pin drive and said common drive means comprising an input gear connected to said common drive means, an output gear axially aligned with said input gear and connected to one of said members of said one way pin drive, and a differential gear mounted on a shaft extending perpendicular to the axes of said input and output gears and meshing therewith, and means for selectively pivoting said shaft about the axes of said input and output gears, a cam operated lever oscillated by said common drive means, a normally disengaged latching mechanism for selectively connecting said cam to said differential gear shaft to pivot same, a solenoid having its plunger connected to said latching mechanism, and detecting means on said conveyer for detecting the absence of articles in said conveyer pockets and operating said solenoid, whereby movement of said difierential gear in the direction of rotation of said input gear by one half of the input gear rotation stops the output gear, and means responsive to the detection of the absence of an article in a conveyer pocket for disengaging said one way pin drive when said output gear is stopped thereby rendering said measuring, cutting and feeding means inactive to feed a sheet to the sheet-receiving station when the detected empty pocket aligns with said receiving station.

6. In a machine for wrapping articles, a common drive means, an endless conveyer having a plurality of spaced article-carrying pockets, a wrapping sheet-receiving station adjacent said conveyer, means connected to said common drive means for driving said conveyer and aligning successive pockets successively with said sheet-receiving station, means drivingly connected to said common drive means for successively measuring and cutting a web of wrapping material into sheets and successively feeding the sheets to the sheet-receiving station, a normally engaged one way pin drive between said common drive means and said measuring, cutting and feeding means, said one way pin drive having a pin member and a socketed member wherein one of said members is connected to said common drive means and the other member is connected to said measuring,cutting and feeding means and one of said members being movable into and out of engagement with said other member, a cam operated lever oscillated by said common drive means, a normally disengaged latching mechanism between said lever and said movable member of said one way pin drive for selectively connecting said cam to said movable member to disengage same from said other member of said one way pin drive, a solenoid having its plunger connected to said latching mechanism, a detector arm above said conveyer detecting absence of articles in the conveyer pockets, a switch operable by said detector arm and controlling the operation of said solenoid, whereby the detection of an empty pocket by said detector arrn operates said switch to operate the solenoid and disengage said one way pin drive thereby rendering said measuring, cutting and feeding means inactive to feed a sheet to the sheet-receiving station when the detected empty pocket aligns with said receiving station, means for stopping said members of the one way pin drive when engaging or disengaging said members to permit smooth engagement and disengagement thereof, said stopping means comprising a differential gearing assembly between said one way pin drive and said common drive means comprising an input gear connected to said common drive means, an output gear axially aligned with said input gear and connected to one of said members of said one way pin drive, and a differential gear mounted on a shaft extending perpendicular to the axes of said input and output gears and meshing therewith, and means for selectively pivoting said shaft about the axes of said input and output gears, a second cam operated lever oscillated by said common drive means, a second normally disengaged latching mechanism for selectively connecting said cam to said differential gear shaft to pivot same, a second solenoid having its plunger connected to said second latching mechanism, and second detecting means on said conveyer for detecting the absence of articles in said conveyer pockets and operating said second solenoid, said cams timed to stop said members of said one way pin drive at the time the moveable member of said pin drive is to be engaged or disengaged from said other member, whereby movement of said differential gear in the direction of rotation of said input gear by one half of the input gear rotation stops the output gear.

7. In a machine for wrapping articles, a common drive means, an endless conveyer having a plurality of spaced article-carrying pockets, a wrapping sheet-receiving station adjacent said conveyer, means connected to said common drive means for driving said conveyer and aligning successive pockets successively with said sheet-receiving station, means drivingly connected to said common drive means for successively measuring and cutting a web of wrapping material into sheets and successively feeding the sheets to the sheet-receiving station, a normally engaged one way pin drive between said common drive means and said measuring, cutting and feeding means, said one way pin drive having a pin member and a socketed member wherein one of said members is connected to said common drive means and the other member is connected to said measuring, cutting and feeding means and one of said members being movable into and out of engagement with said other member, means for stopping said members of the one way pin drive when engaging or disengaging said members to permit smooth engagement and disengagement thereof, said stopping means comprising a differential gearing assembly between said one way pin drive and said common drive means comprising an input gear connected to said common drive means, an output gear axially aligned with said input gear and connected to one of said members of said one way pin drive, and a differential gear mounted on a shaft extending perpendic: ular to the axes of said input and output gears and meshing therewith, and means for selectively pivoting said shaft about the axes of said input and output gears, a cam operated lever oscillated by said common drive means, a normally disengaged latching mechanism for selectively connecting said cam to said differential gear shaft to pivot same, a solenoid having its plunger connected to said latching mechanism, a detector arm above said conveyer detecting absence of articles in the conveyer pockets, a

switch operable by said detector arm and controlling the I solenoid, whereby the detection of an empty pocket by said detector arm operates said switch to operate the solenoid and stop the output gear.

8. In a machine for wrapping articles, a common drive means, an endless conveyer having a plurality of spaced article-carrying pockets, a wrapping sheet-receiving station adjacent said conveyer, means connected to said common drive means for driving said conveyer and aligning successive pockets successively with said sheet-receiving station, means drivingly connected to said common drive means for successively measuring and cutting a web of wrapping material into sheets and successively feeding the sheets to the sheet-receiving station, a normally engaged one way pin drive between said common drive means and said measuring, cutting and feeding means, said one way pin drive having a pin member and a socketed member wherein one of said members is connected to said common drive means and the other member is connected to said measuring, cutting and feeding means and one of said members being movable into and out of engagement with said other member, means for stopping said members of the one way pin drive when engaging or disengaging said members to permit smooth engagement and disengagement thereof, said stopping means comprising a differential gearing assembly between said one way pin drive and said common drive means comprising an input gear connected to said common drive means, an output gear axially aligned with said input gear and connected to one of said members of said one way pin drive, and a differential gear mounted on a shaft extending perpendicular to the axes of said input and output gears and meshing therewith, and means for selectively pivoting said shaft about the axes of said input and output gears, a second cam operated lever oscillated by said common drive means, a second normally disengaged latching mechanism for selectively connecting said cam to said differential gear shaft to pivot same, a second solenoid having its plunger connected to said second latching mechanism, a second detector arm above said conveyer detecting absence of articles in the conveyer pockets, a second switch operable by said detector arm and controlling the second solenoid, whereby the detection of an empty pocket by said second detector arm operates said second switch to operate the second solenoid and stop the output gear.

9. In a machine for wrapping articles, a common drive means, an endless conveyer having a plurality of spaced article-carrying pockets, a wrapping sheet-receiving station adjacent said conveyer, means connected to said common drive means for driving said conveyer and aligning successive pockets successively with said sheet-receiving station, means drivingly connected to said common drive means for successively measuring and cutting a web of wrapping material into sheets and successively feeding the sheets to the sheet-receiving station, normally engaged coupling means between said common drive means and said measuring, cutting and feeding means, said coupling means including an input member connected to said common drive means and an output member connected to said measuring, cutting and feeding means, differential gearing means for stopping said members of said coupling means to permit smooth engagement and disengagement thereof, and means responsive to the detection of the absence of an article in a conveyer pocket for disengaging said coupling means thereby rendering said measuring, cutting and feeding means inactive to feed a sheet to the sheet-receiving station when the detected empty pocket aligns with said receiving station.

10. In a machine for wrapping articles, a common drive means, an endless conveyer having a plurality of spaced article-carrying pockets, a wrapping sheet-receiving station adjacent said conveyer, means connected to said common drive means for driving said conveyer and aligning successive pockets successively with said sheetreceiving station, means drivingly connected to said common drive means for successively measuring and cutting a web of wrapping material into sheets and successively feeding the sheets to the sheet-receiving station, normally engaged coupling means between said common drive means and said measuring, cutting and feeding means, said coupling means including an input member connected to said common drive means and an output member connected to said measuring, cutting and feeding means, means for stopping said members of said coupling means to permit smooth engagement and disengagement thereof, detector means on said conveyer controlling the operation of said stopping means upon the detection of the absence of an article in a conveyer pocket, and means responsive to the detection of the absence of an article in a conveyer pocket for disengaging said coupling means thereby rendering said measuring, cutting and feeding means inactive to feed a sheet to the sheet-receiving station when the detected empty pocket aligns with said receiving station.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,144,265 Milrnoe Jan. 17, 1939 2,320,757 Sinclair et a1 June 1, 1943 2,672,717 Russell et al. Mar. 23, 1954 2,681,758 Lipson June 22, 1954 2,760,317 Cornock et a1. Aug. 28, 1956 

